DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks fans learned a vivid, but hardly surprising, lesson Monday night: Moses Brown might someday be a very good NBA player, but at this moment he is not the answer to fans’ prayers for a dependable starting center.
Of course, it’s unrealistic and unfair to 22-year-old Brown to expect otherwise. And as Cleveland’s 114-96 domination Monday night showed, Brown’s 11-minute, four-foul stint in his first Mavericks start was well down the list of Dallas’ myriad problems.
It was the fifth loss in the last six games for the Mavericks (11-10) and the second in a row at American Airlines Center to start a stretch of five home games in six outings.
With its frontcourt of 6-11 Jarett Allen, 7-foot rookie Evan Mobley and 7-foot Lauri Markkanen, Cleveland (11-10) shot 56% and outscored the Mavericks in the paint, 60-46.
The Cavaliers’ biggest lead was 31 points. With the score 82-58 after a dunk by Allen (28 points, 14 rebounds), the Cavaliers woofed on their way to the sideline for a timeout, but soon were drowned out by fans’ booing of the home team.
Luka Doncic, who led the Mavericks with 25 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, said the Mavericks lost their composure and allowed their shooting (43%) to affect their defense.
“We’ve got to control our emotions,” he said. “We’ve got to be better on defense because our defense was terrible. We’ve got to fix that.”
Brown got his first start as a Maverick in place of Willie Cauley-Stein, who was ill.
Prior to Monday, Brown had played only 18 minutes in six appearances as a Maverick, 8:54 of which came during mop-up time in the 31-point loss at Denver.
Despite these scant glimpses, or perhaps because sightings were so rare, fans have taken to social media to beseech Kidd to “free” Brown.
More likely, fans were enamored by young Brown’s career breakout last season for 22-win Oklahoma City. He averaged 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds in 42 games, including a few eye-popping performances, most notably his 21-point, 23-rebound blitz against Boston – with an astounding 17 points and 19 rebounds coming in the first half.
Boston acquired Brown in the Kemba Walker-for-Al Horford trade, and Dallas got him in July when it traded Josh Richardson to the Celtics.
Kidd said after Sunday’s practice that Brown’s time would perhaps come soon, but that Cauley-Stein would get his third straight starting nod, against the Cavs.
But, on Monday morning Cauley-Stein went from not being mentioned on the injury report to out against Cleveland for a non-COVID-19 illness.
